Dropship Harmony
En Route to Tallin
Capellan Confederation

Ruby let out a relieved huff of air as she exited her assigned bunk space. Available bedding on a standard Union-class dropship, capable of carrying an entire company of twelve Battlemechs, as well as a pair of Aerospace fighters and accompanying Mechtechs and ground troops, was rather limited. Mechwarriors and their techs got what was considered premium space aside from the officers, eight to a room crammed into four racks of two beds apiece, a pair on each side. There was barely enough room to stand in the middle, much less for two people to pass one another, so most personnel spent as little time as possible in their bunks, preferring the 'Mech bay or various, equally-cramped lounges.

Which suited Ruby just fine as it gave her more time to spend on fixing her baby up. Crescent Rose had accumulated a significant amount of debris and dust on her race towards the dropship, and she was ready to get her sweetheart back to her usual pretty self.

"Well, I'll be damned, I thought I saw your 'Mech in the bay."

The brunette let out a delighted laugh as she spun around. The familiar husky voice belonged to an ebony-skinned, silver-haired woman in dark grey Mechtech overalls and standing with her hands on her hips, a pleased smile of her own on her face.

"Arslan! I'm so glad you made it off of Teng!"

As she tackled the older woman, the Mechtech also laughed, wrapping her up in a warm hug. "We were fortunate, they swung by with a transport before we even got word of the evacuation."

Ruby pulled back at a sudden thought. "But you were born on Teng, don't you have family on there?"

"Not so much that will miss me," Arslan shrugged easily. "Besides, who'll fix your little bird up if I'm not around?"

"Hey, now," she squawked in mock offense. "I'll have you know, I'm a pretty decent tech myself!"

"Uh-huh. And the last time I let you and Wukong into my space, it took me a solid week to put things back in order."

"Yeah." Ruby face fell a little bit. "Good times, huh?"

"Oh, hun…" Arslan regarded the Mechwarrior sadly. "He didn't make it?"

She just shook her head, turning so that the both of them could continue their walk towards the 'Mech bays.

"Well, if you wanna talk, you know I'm here for you, yeah?"

"Yeah, I know… Thanks, Arslan."

"Anytime, Ruby."

The pair paused at the threshold of the enormous bay. Scaffolding and rigging held up Battlemechs in various states of disrepair, some missing limbs, others missing great hunks of armor. Ruby was surprised to see a mix of light, medium, and heavy 'Mechs.

"So… is this the new company, now, or are they gonna reorganize things once we get on the ground?"

"Not sure," Arslan hummed thoughtfully. "Scuttlebutt is, there are two other dropships accompanying us from Teng that also latched onto the jumpship. So, perhaps they'll organize a new battalion, pulling together 'Mechs as they need."

"Yeah, that makes sense…"

Ruby trailed off as the overhead intercom blared to life.

"Mechwarrior Rose, please report to Captain Li Han immediately."

It repeated once more as Ruby turned her worried silver eyes to her friend and personal Mechtech. "Sure hope I'm not in trouble."

"I don't think you've been on the dropship long enough for that," Arslan snickered in reply.

"Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"Suuure you aren't…"

After a few more traded jibes, the brunette hurried back up the corridor to the residential area. She knew where the officers' quarters were, similarly cramped but at least with only one bed per bunk room. Ruby passed a few doors before she came to the one correctly labeled. She rapped firmly on the door, pulling herself to attention.

"Enter."

As she did so, closing the door behind her and snapping off a salute, her eyes quickly scanned the small room's occupant. Li Han was a slender man with a probing look to his almond-shaped dark eyes. He had cropped black hair and golden skin, altogether unremarkable-looking for a typical Capellan officer.

"Mechwarrior Rose, reporting as ordered, sir."

"Very good, Rose, have a seat, please."

She perched on the edge of the smartly-made bed as instructed, careful not to disturb the sheets. Li Han sat at the small metal chair by the laughably tiny desk, tapping his fingers idly on a tablet there as he looked her over.

"So, Rose… I've inspected your records, as well as the combat footage of the action on Teng."

"O-Oh, sir?" she stammered anxiously, wondering if she'd be reprimanded for going towards Sun's last known location rather than her base.

"Indeed. Most remarkable, you are a highly skilled pilot."

"Oh! Er, thank you, sir!"

The Captain nodded slowly as he glanced at the tablet before regarding her once more. "In fact, your overall service record over the past year has been nothing short of astounding. Zero ejections and twenty-four 'Mech kills."

Ruby nodded with a nervous smile. She'd never really been one to take lavish compliments easily.

"So tell me…" He leaned forward slightly, the corners of his mouth ticking up. "What's your secret? Natural talent?"

"Well… yes, sir, exactly. I'm a Remnanter."

"Hmm." He sat back once again, regarding her pensively. "Before we discuss your future, please tell me more about those who come from your homeworld. It would seem that within this collection of survivors from Teng, as well as on Tallin, where we are bound for, we have a rather disproportionate number of… Remnanter conscripts." He did smile then, and though it was slight it gave Ruby some encouragement. "I'd like to understand better you and your people."

"Oh, sure thing, sir. Um, lemme see…" She frowned as she chewed on her bottom lip, deep in thought as to where to begin. "Well, those of us from Remnant, we originally were two separate races, you see. Humans, or at least, Human-looking, and then the Faunus."

"And those would be the individuals exhibiting certain… animalistic characteristics?" he interjected softly.

"Right, exactly. The Faunus of history were all better at, well, most stuff, more agile and could hear better, usually stronger, maybe even smarter, I dunno. Anyways, over the centuries I suppose the Faunus gene was dominant enough that, well, we all got a little bit of it." Ruby spread her hands in a slight shrug. "So we all got the same genes now, just, some of us have more obvious, y'know… extra appendages and stuff. But on average… we've got faster reflexes and better agility than anyone else not from Remnant."

"Hmm." Li Han tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Natural Mechwarriors, in other words."

"Yeah, pretty much. We always managed to run into trouble, though, outside of our world, 'cause of, well…" Ruby smiled disarmingly. "Most folks get weirded out by a pair of wolf ears on top of a guy's head."

"You… face some discrimination outside of your planet, then?"

"Usually, yeah, even if we don't have any exterior features since we tend to stick together."

"I see. Well." The Capellan Captain crossed a leg at the ankle, nodding thoughtfully. "I've not heard of any special accommodations made for Remnanters, but I'd like to do so. In fact, getting back to the company organization…" Li Han regarded Ruby levelly. "I'd like to put you in charge of a lance and promote you to Warrant Officer."

"Me, sir?" Ruby squeaked. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Third Lance, Bravo Company, within the newly formed Third Battalion of the 41st Capellan Regulars, also known as the Avenging Falcons." He shrugged at the brunette's raised eyebrows. "I didn't pick the battalion name, that honor rests with Major Fukima."

"Right, okay… Um, well, I'm honored, sir, and I accept." Ruby drew herself up. "I won't let you down."

"I don't expect you will. I'll officially register Third Lance as Rose Lance. Now then, as to your lancemates…" He pulled his tablet off of the table, swiping at the screen. "I have two slots filled, one is another Remnanter like yourself and another is from the Lyran Commonwealth."

"Really?" Ruby's interest was piqued on both accounts but by far the latter one rose to the top. "What is a Steiner Mechwarrior doing fighting with the Capellan Confederation?"

"I'm not entirely sure of her reasoning, but she emigrated to Liao space as a fully-trained Mechwarrior. We're not ones to pass up an opportunity… after the appropriate checks were done into her past, of course." Li Han grimaced slightly. "I do not have access to the records of the Maskirovka investigation."

Ruby nodded, hiding her own grimace. The Capellan Confederation was, at its core, a police state. The population was tightly controlled, but people took inordinate pride in citizenship that could only be earned, not inherited. And the intelligence arm of the government was known as the Maskirovka, easily the most feared intelligence apparatus in the Inner Sphere. This fear was, of course, one of its greatest weapons and helped prevent many attacks from both outside the Confederation and from within it.

One worked quite diligently to escape the notice of the Maskirovka.

"That does leave one opening, though I do have some candidates to consider… I intend for your lance to be advance recon, operating rather independently, as I believe you would seem to prefer."

"That… sounds great, sir." She smiled at her Captain. "Um, by any chance, do you know if my sister is assigned to Tallin? I think she was, last time I heard… I'd really like for her to fill the last slot, if I may."

"Well, I can certainly look her up. What is her name?"

"Yang Xiao-Long, sir."

As he tapped the query into his tablet, she was quick to answer the curious quirk of his eyebrow.

"We're half-sisters," she explained quickly. "Same dad, different moms, though she pretty much considers my mom her own as well. Her mom hasn't been around much."

"Very well… Ah, I see, she is indeed on Tallin. And… apparently a bit of a troublemaker. I don't think I'll have much resistance from her current company commander to take her off of his hands." He glanced up at Ruby once more. "Someone this volatile and insubordinate… Will you be able to handle her?"

"Yessir," she reported decisively.

"Alright, then, Warrant Office Rose… You have your lance."

Gamma Base
Planet: Tallin
Capellan Confederation

It was the dead of the night by the time Ruby had gotten her 'Mech disembarked from the dropship and cocooned in her new Mechbay. She also made sure that Arslan was situated before making her way towards where her bunkroom now was, shared with the other members of her new lance who were, if the boisterous noise coming from the doorway ahead was any indicator, already present.

"Rubbles!"

The brunette laughed as she was swept off of her feet by an enthusiastic blonde. "Hey, Yang," she chuckled breathlessly, returning the hug. "Long time, no see."

"Seriously, it's been, what, over a year?" Yang set her little sister down on the floor, regarding her fondly. "Lookit you now, did you grow a couple of inches on me?"

"I did, yeah. Few other changes, too."

"Few other…" Lilac eyes grew wide as Ruby pointed to her new epaulets. "Holy shitballs, you're our new Warrant Officer?"

"Yep, that's me. So, then…" Ruby looked across the room at the other pair of women sitting unobtrusively on their bunk beds. The two sets of beds were placed across from each other, leaving quite a bit more space than on the Harmony. In fact, even with the addition of a table and chairs at the end of the room, it was positively spacious.

She nodded to the raven-haired woman first, noting the matching feline ears that flicked atop her head. "You would be Mechwarrior Belladonna, then?"

"That's right," she responded in a quiet but husky monotone.

"Yeah, me an' Blake actually went to school together," Yang interjected breezily as she plopped onto a chair, stretching her legs out before her. "Weren't best of friends or anything, but we ran in the same circles."

"Good to hear." Ruby gave the Cat Faunus a warm smile, which she timidly returned. The brunette then switched her gaze over to the last woman in the room. "And then you would be Mechwarrior Schnee, from the Lyran Commonwealth."

"Correct," the platinum-haired woman replied curtly and with the barest of nods.

Okaaayyy… Smile unabating, Ruby gazed about the room. "Alright, then… As you probably already figured out, I'm Ruby Rose, Warrant Officer. Yang, Blake, and Weiss... We're a lance, the Captain has designated us as advance recon. As I understand it, Weiss and Blake, you've each been assigned Stingers, and Yang, a Wasp?"

"You betcha!"

"Mmm."

Weiss merely nodded once more, her face tight and unreadable.

Oh, this is gonna be rough going. "Right, let's get some rack time, I wanna hit the simulators first thing in the morning after breakfast, see how we all work together. Already checked to make sure we each have our 'Mech assigned to us in the program. Weiss, a moment?"

While the other two prepared for bed, Yang chatting excitedly about her last mission which ended up with her 30-ton Hermes Battlemech being scrapped for parts, Weiss followed the brunette Mechwarrior out into the hallway.

"So, look," Ruby began hesitantly. "I know this probably seems kinda… intimidating… being on a lance with three other members, all from the same planet… But I know how it feels, okay? Being so far from home, without anyone to depend on…" She peered closely at the other woman, her silver eyes shining with earnestness. "I don't want you to feel isolated. You're part of us now, we're a team. So if you're ever feeling left out, come talk to me, please?"

Weiss stared back, her impassivity seemingly cracking slightly as she gave another nod. Pale pools of icy blue softened infinitesimally. "Very well, thank you… Ruby."

She gave the platinum-haired woman a brilliant smile which was returned on a much smaller scale before her lancemate departed back into the room. Ruby let out a sigh, slumping against the wall and running a hand through her red-tipped brown tresses.

"Ok, then…" she murmured, standing back up and following Weiss.

As she lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling from her bunk above Weiss, thoughts and fears and anxiety-ridden doubts whirled through her head like a maelstrom.

Even though she was the youngest member of the lance, she was determined not to let that be a factor. They could pull this off, become a tightly-knit unit, the envy of the rest of the company. Maybe. With luck. And a whole lot of work.

Whatever may happen, she was still as resolute as ever to make her parents proud, wherever they now were.

Of course, that resurfaced a whole new thread of old fears, ones that had plagued her ever since being conscripted into the Capellan Regulars.

Please… by all the old gods of Remnant, please don't make me face them in battle… It's a big universe, right? Right.

Still, sleep was a long time coming for the young Mechwarrior.

A/N: Hey, we got Team RWBY together already! Rough going, to be sure, but at least Weiss' first impression of Ruby wasn't her blowing herself up. We also got some background on how I've fit Remnant into the geography of the Inner Sphere.

So, next chapter, let's see just how cohesive a unit the new lance is…

Stay shiny!